From The Blog

Critical Thinking and Science

Science is the study of the universe and the beginning of that study is in critical thinking. A person who thinks critically asks questions about nature and attempts to find answers.

When a person is thinking critically, he is attempting to explain events, solve problems, or just simply— to understand God’s universe. Thinking critically does not mean just being critical, but the the ability to probe and examine a subject open-mindedly and from many points of view. Once we understand the value of these kinds of thought processes, we can incorporate them into our homeschool agenda.

Critical thinking skills are vital. Those who can employ critical thinking are better problem solvers, better equipped to understand how and why things work, and better at presenting and defending a logical argument not only in science but in nearly every field of study.

It is only natural, then, to teach critical thinking skills in home school, but what kinds of activities teach critical thinking skills?

First, we have to determine just what is this thing we call critical thinking. There are several processes involved— analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and attempting to answer the question “why?”. These types of thought processes really can’t be easily separated one from another, but it is helpful to distinguish them for the purposes of instruction. These four thought processes are considered to be higher order thinking, and when they are used together, they become problem solving methods.

Lets examine the four thought processes and then discuss problem solving methods in a bit more detail.

During analysis, the thinker will try to break down ideas to determine an underlying pattern. For example, you can check your student’s compositions to see if there are any consistent mistakes. Another example would be checking over test answers to find a pattern revealing a weak understanding in a particular area or subject mastery in another. In reality, these analyses are what a good teacher does with every test or paper. Similarly, a scientist will look over data to see if she can determine patterns which would explain the data. Analysis is often the first higher order thought process applied to solve a problem.

Synthesis is another higher order of thought. When a person uses synthesis, he or she is combining ideas to get a larger idea or concept. In the case of a major weather event, scientists often attempt to determine if there is a pattern to the weather system which can be predicted based upon signs like temperatures or barometric pressure patterns. A common example of synthesis is the combination of high strength of steel with the flexibility of thin strands to make a steel cable for a suspension bridge. When a new idea emerges from a body of current knowledge, synthesis is at work.

Evaluation is the thought process whereby we try to decide whether an explanation is true. In school, we teach the children to evaluate their own work and they gradually begin to judge the work of others. Another use of evaluation is deciding if a conclusion is justified, or correct, or true. When writing up an experiment, the student is asked to write a conclusion: why did the experiment do what it did? The student may have used analysis and synthesis to reach the conclusion, but at some point the student will have to decide that it is a good and satisfactory explanation.

Simply trying to answer the question ‘Why?’ is another type of higher order thinking skill. Involving you children in this activity is a great way to practice higher order thinking. These are the ‘I wonder” questions which spark a young scientist’s imagination. Training a child to ask himself these questions is the goal of a good teacher. A person who is curious about the universe is one who will learn easily. This skill is really two-fold: first, the asking of the question, then the attempt at an answer. Both of these can be learned and practiced.

Techniques for Problem Solving

Problem solving is a way we can practice critical thinking. Two principle ways of problem solving are the scientific method and the engineering method. The scientific method allows a scientist to determine what factors may be affecting a system. By eliminating all but one factors, the scientist can then vary that one factor and measure its effect. Norman Edmund, founder of Edmund Scientific has written a wonderful book which details the many parts of the scientific method. Really a book about critical thinking, The General Pattern of the Scientific Method is valuable to every student.

The engineering method, like the scientific method, is systematic, but it is usually applied in concrete rather than theoretical situations. When a person uses the engineering method, she attempts to solve a very specific problem using the materials at hand.

First, she will carefully define the problem in order to understand exactly what she needs to do.

Then she will brainstorm ideas to determine many possible methods to overcome the problem.

Next, she will weigh those ideas to determine the best one for the situation.

Last, she will refine her work.

Practice, Practice, Practice!

Now, for some ideas you can use at home to practice critical thinking skills. A student may be asked to solve a problem like making a lunch which includes all of the major food groups with an assortment of good-tasting foods— and be made up of what is available without a trip to the store. This may sound simplistic, but is a good way to introduce the engineering method to your students.

Another good exercise is to build a crane of building blocks (or Legos or whatever) capable of lifting a glass of water off the ground. Your students use the materials on hand to solve a particular given problem.

Problem solving can be done in the imagination, too. You can present the children with a hypothetical problem— or one they have read about— and get them to brainstorm possible solutions.

Practicing brainstorming is another fun activity for home. Science, without brainstorming or divergent thinking, would never have progressed to our high level of technology. Just think of all of the everyday things you use which have been invented by people doing divergent thinking. Velcro, transitors, tape recorders, airplane wings, and even the screw, are all examples.

There are many fun ways you can practice brainstorming, but remember the primary rule: don’t criticize the ideas the children come up with. The single quickest way to cut off creativity is to be critical, so make no judgements about an idea no matter how far-fetched. The important thing is the free flow of lots of ideas. Later, you will analyze the ideas and toss out the ineffective ones, but for the present, you just want ideas and lots of them.

What kinds of things can you brainstorm with your children? How about these—

how could we get across the street without touching the ground?

how can we make light with no house current?

how can we save energy used for cooking

how can we arrange the furniture for convenient homeschooling? (You would be surprised at the ideas for this one that the children will come up with.)

Teaching Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is easier to teach when you are deliberate about it. Most curricula do not attempt to teach critical thinking, so it becomes a stretch for the homeschool parents to follow through. However, the benefits are greatly outweigh the effort required. Do teach the children to think— after all, the Scirpture tells us that we should seek wisdom above all else.

How to use an activity to teach critical thinking:

First, do something which allows you to collect data, keeping track of weather and temperatures, for example.

Next, you chart the data. The making of a chart is helpful to scientists and students enabling them to see relationships more easily.

Then, help your student to analyze the chart for information or patterns.

Ask your student if the information applies to other situations or studies.

Have the student write a conclusion or summary of what was learned.

If your student is curious about the outcome, he may want to do more experiments to find out more information. At this point, the wise parent will drop out of the action becoming the curious audience. This student is now becoming a self-directing critical thinker.

Here’s an Example…

Below is a performance chart which shows some of the factors affecting an aircraft’s takeoff. An airplane accelerates down the runway causing air to flow over the wings at greater and greater speed. As the air passes over the wings, they generate lift. The faster the air, the more lift is created. But speed is only one vital piece of information in determining takeoff performance. Weather conditions also affect the takeoff.

Aircraft Takeoff Performance

0000′59°F

2500′50°F

5000′41°F

7500′32°F

Gross Wt(lbs)

Airspeed at 50 ft.

Headwind

Groundrun

Distanceto 50′

Groundrun

Distanceto 50′

Groundrun

Distanceto 50′

Groundrun

Distanceto 50′

2300

68

0

865

1525

1040

1910

1255

2480

1565

3855

2300

68

10

615

1170

750

1485

920

1955

1160

3110

2300

68

20

405

850

505

1100

630

1480

810

2425

2000

63

0

630

1095

735

1325

905

1625

1120

2155

2000

63

10

435

820

530

1005

645

1250

810

1685

2000

63

20

275

580

340

730

425

910

595

1255

1700

58

0

435

780

520

920

625

1095

765

1370

1700

58

10

290

570

355

680

430

820

535

1040

1700

58

20

175

385

215

470

270

575

345

745

Look the performance chart above and answer these questions.1. What is the temperature of a day when the airplane can take off in the shortest distance?

2. What are the best conditions for take off? The worst?

A normal curriculum will ask these first two questions. These questions ask the student to read and show understanding of the chart. This is the type of question normally found on an achievement test.

Read on for questions requiring more critical thinking!

3. How does air temperature affect the lift generated by the wings on an aircraft? Brainstorm lift factors which the temperature of the air might affect.

4. In a gas, the molecules have more energy and are farther apart when the temperature is warm. How does this fact relate to the data in the chart?

5. What could you do to the design of an airplane to make it takeoff in a short distance?

6. If you put ice in the wings, it would cool them and the air around them. Would this reduce the takeoff roll of the airplane?

7. Could you reduce the take off roll by putting big fans at the end of the runway and blowing air down the runway towards the plane?

Are you teaching critical thinking in your homeschool? Leave a comment and let us know how you’re doing it!

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Our texts are written from Christian, creationist perspective. On our website, we want to share how we are using science in our own homeschool, inspire you to teach real science at home, and provide tools to help you do that!